Actor Jack Quaid (The Hunger Games, Vinyl) invites viewers to join Project UROK and The Harry Potter Alliance in fighting the stigma around mental illness and economic inequality by using the #MyHungerGames hashtag to tell their stories on social media.
The hashtage was born out of 2014’s social media conversations around the Mockingjay movie release and the real-life impact of economic inequality. The #MyHungerGames blog will serve as a place to learn about how economic inequality impacts real people in areas like mental health, criminal justice, the environment, and more. It will also serve as a call to action, offering opportunities to visitors to help decrease the stigma and increase access to mental health services in their communities.
Throughout “The Hunger Games” series, many characters deal with mental illness. Katniss’ mother lives with depression, Haymitch struggles with addiction, Peeta becomes dissociated from reality, and Katniss struggles with PTSD following her time in the arena. Yet throughout the series, there seem to be no mental health resources available. In Panem’s poorest districts, people who need quality mental health services are forced to go without. Sadly, this injustice isn’t limited to dystopian fiction. In the real world, many people go without mental health services because of economic inequality.
Users can submit video testimonials at Project UROK’s website or by e-mailing projecturok@gmail.com.
Project UROK is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to create funny, meaningful videos for teenagers struggling with mental health issues, made by people who have been there before. Founded by Jenny Jaffe (CollegeHumor), the site officially launched in April of 2015 and features a variety of honest, funny and relatable videos from young adults recounting their struggles with mental health. Project UROK ultimately strives to be an interactive, all-encompassing source of teen mental health resources, encouraging users to upload their own videos and share their experiences on the site’s message boards.
Dior Vargas is a Latina feminist mental health activist, founder of the People of Color and Mental Illness Photo Project, and Outreach Coordinator for Project UROK. She openly discusses and describes her experiences with depression and recovery, as well as her mental health activism for people of color.
Actor Jack Quaid invites the public to join Project UROK and the Harry Potter Alliance in fighting the stigma around mental illness and economic inequality.
